Saying No

Seth says "Saying No" is an important skill that frees you up to say "yes" to important opportunities. That's a skill I have not been good at, but just last night I said a rare "no" to another term on my Homeowners Association's Board of Directors! My goal is to reduce the number of organizations I'm responsible for by half this year. I'll need all the help I can get to accomplish this!

Don't Look Back!

Seth Godin says to "ignore the sunk costs", meaning "When making a choice between two options, only consider what's going to happen in the future, not which investments you've made in the past. The past investments are over, lost, gone forever. They are irrelevant to the future."

While his direct application is to marketing and the business world, it seems this also has application to the "church world". If more of us would release our grip on the aspects of "doing church" that we're "used to" and "comfortable with", and focus more on what's ahead and how we can accomplish God's mission, we would have fewer cases of "friendly fire". If we could ignore the "past investment" each of us has made, especially in the light of Christ's investment in the lost souls of this world, we might be better equipped to see the world as He does! Are our past investments holding us back from moving forward in fulfillment of God's calling for the church?

The world is watching!

Torture? OK. Taxes? No way!

That's embarrassing! Larry James reports that the latest polling data from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life states that "White evangelical Protestants were the religious group most likely to say torture is often or sometimes justified -- more than six in 10 supported it. People unaffiliated with any religious organization were least likely to back it. Only four in 10 of them did."

I'm guessing the East Texas numbers would have been even higher; but don't raise our taxes or we'll protest in the streets!

Really?!? Being 50% more likely to support some use of torture on prisoners - is that who we want to be? The world is watching - what are they seeing?

I understand the wine, but no hugs?

Corpus Christi Bishop bans communion wine; says offer only the bread, and only in the hand, not on the tongue.

Time to go to multiple cups, Bishop!

And no more sick people coming to worship, either! Wonder what Jesus's instruction would be if a sick person or a leper walked in? I think Jesus would touch them.

CDC Flu Update Widget

All the Blind Squirrels

I love reading Seth Godin's blog. Its like having a conversation with a friend who sees things very differently than I do, but might still be right! HA!

Today's post fits in well with the conversations I had yesterday about Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers. One of the main points is that talent is overrated; what's needed for success in our culture is hard, hard work and a little blind luck!

Homeless Man Leads Police to Suspected Burglar

A Tyler homeless man camped out near a shopping center witnessed a burglary in progress, scared off the burglar and provided police with an accurate description and even the license plate number of the getaway vehicle he had scrawled in the dirt. The suspect was arrested a short time later and a short distance away.
This story raises more questions than it answers, and its difficult to write about it without getting bitter and cynical about the policies that are perpetuating the invisible homeless tragedy. But I hope some stereotypes are shaken, if not toppled, by this incident. I hope this eyewitness is treated like the hero he is!

UPDATE: perhaps there is hope. The Tyler newspaper reporter did a nice job with the story, even asking the hero what he wanted!

It's 2009, Do You Know Where Your Soul Is?

You need to read Bono's op-ed piece in Saturday's New York Times. It's his reflection on Easter, including this paragraph:
"I come to lowly church halls and lofty cathedrals for what purpose? I search the Scriptures to what end? To check my head? My heart? No, my soul. For me these meditations are like a plumb line dropped by a master builder — to see if the walls are straight or crooked. I check my emotional life with music, my intellectual life with writing, but religion is where I soul-search." (Thanks to another prophet, Larry James for pointing me to this article!)

As we prepare for Pentecost, let's ready ourselves for the coming of God's Spirit with power! How will this change our lives? Will we be open to asking the question, "What shall we do?"

The world is watching!